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Sprat are commercially valuable and are an important component of the North-East Atlantic ecosystem as major predators of zooplankton, competitors with herring, and prey for piscivorous fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. Despite this, insufficient information exists for Celtic Seas sprat, one of five North-East Atlantic stocks, to estimate stock status. To ensure the sustainable exploitation of sprat, the health of the Celtic Seas ecosystem, and the wider fisheries sector, we conduct a management strategy evaluation to stress test the current single-species advice framework. The aim is to evaluate whether ecosystem objectives can be achieved under single-species maximum sustainable yield and precautionary advice frameworks. An operating model was conditioned on life history theory and strategic information from ecosystem models. We showed that in-year advice using an empirical rule could achieve management objectives and help balance the trade-offs between fishing activities and ecosystem health. The approach allows ecosystem understanding to be incorporated within existing precautionary and maximum sustainable yield frameworks to provide a robust management framework that can meet multiple objectives despite uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity and distribution of gelatinous macrozooplankton is described by presenting qualitative and quantitative data of the jellyfish and comb jelly community encountered in the North Sea and Skagerrak/Kattegat during January/February 2022. Data were generated as part of the North Sea Midwater Ring Net (MIK) survey [1], an ichthyoplankton survey conducted at night-time during the quarter 1 (Q1) International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS), aboard the Danish R/V DANA (DTU Aqua) and the Swedish R/V Svea (SLU). A total of 100 stations were investigated using a 13 m long Midwater Ring Net (MIK net) with an opening diameter of 2 m and a mesh size of 1.6 mm, which is 0.5 mm meshed for the last meter of the net and the cod end [2]. Samples were collected by double oblique hauls from the surface to 5 m above the seafloor [2]. Twelve gelatinous macrozooplankton species were encountered during the Q1 2022 survey. Species encountered included the hydrozoan jellyfish i) Aequorea vitrina, ii) Aglantha digitale, iii) Clytia spp., iv) Leuckartiara octona, v) Tima bairdii, vi) Muggiaea atlantica; the two scyphozoan jellyfish i) Cyanea capillata and ii) Cyanea lamarckii as well as the comb jelly (ctenophora) species i) Beroe spp., ii) Bolinopsis infundibulum, iii) Pleurobrachia pileus and iv) the non-indigenous Mnemiopsis leidyi. In total 4882 individual specimens from samples and sub-samples were analyzed and extrapolated to 71,888 records of gelatinous macrozooplankton in the investigation area. For rare species, the entire sample was analyzed, while for abundant taxa, sub-samples were used to assess abundances. The raw counts were converted to volume-specific densities (individuals m-3) and area-specific abundances (individuals m-2), based on calibrated flow meter recordings and recorded maximum depth of the MIK net during each haul. Further, size data for the different species were obtained from a total of 4775 individual gelatinous macrozooplankton organisms. Size data are presented in the accompanying database and was used to calculate species-specific wet weights, using published size-weight regressions [3]. In addition, we present spatial distribution patterns of the weight specific biomass for the total gelatinous macrozooplankton community as well as the sub-groups i) hydrozoa, ii) scyphozoa and iii) ctenophora across the investigation area. The presented data contribute to a baseline describing the gelatinous macrozooplankton diversity and distribution in the extended North Sea area during winter [3,4] and summer [5]. The data can contribute to address the question if gelatinous macrozooplankton densities increase due to global change pressures and will help to understand their interaction with commercially important fish species, which are assessed during the same surveys. As such, this data paper presents a valuable resource on biodiversity and non-indigenous species records and highlights the importance of monitoring gelatinous macrozooplankton to facilitate an ecosystem approach to assess if the ecosystem state meets a ‘good environmental status (GES)’, as demanded by the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

Multiple stressors, such as overfishing, pollution, climate change, biological invasions etc., are affecting fish communities, and thus can have versatile effects on marine ecosystems and socio-economic activities as well. Understanding the changes in the fish community structure is ecologically and economically important, yet a very complex issue, requiring comprehensive analysis of multiple factors. The role of regional oceanographic variability, namely, coastal upwelling, is often neglected when it comes to the analysis of fish assemblages. In this perspective, we were aiming, for the first time in the Baltic Sea, to assess the upwelling influence on fish communities and fish community-based ecological indices used under Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The study covered a long-term period (2000–2019) for upwelling identified by satellite data analysis and fish gillnet surveys, performed in three distinct locations in the coastal waters of the SE Baltic Sea. Overall, our study revealed that temporal dynamics of fish abundance and community composition were associated with the presence of coastal upwelling. The study outcomes suggest that the fish community was more diverse and a higher number of some fish species was observed before upwelling. During upwelling, there was more evident dominance of 1–2 main marine fish species. Through the changes in fish abundance and species composition upwelling was also responsible for the changes in fish community structure-based indices for marine environment status, i.e., in the majority of the cases a decrease in Trophic, Piscivorous Fish, and Diversity indices were observed. Our study demonstrates that upwelling can affect both, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of coastal fish communities, therefore, it is important to consider this when predicting shifts in the distribution of fish stocks or assessing environmental status indicators, especially under changing climate. We believe that our approach adds novel information to the study of coastal ecosystems of the Baltic Sea and is important for better management of socio-economic activities in the coastal zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All maritime states have the challenge of maintaining the environmental quality of their seas while at the same time maximising their economic potential thus requiring appropriate science, governance and management measures. In Europe, directives and regulations are used to address the pressures affecting the health and sustainability of marine resources, and to promote Good Environmental Status (GES) (e.g. the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, MSFD), while having a coherent and integrated pattern of sea use (e.g. the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, MSPD). Therefore, an approach is required to meet these challenges for all maritime states including, for Europe, the joint adoption of these two directives. As such an approach does not yet exist, one is proposed here based on a hypothetical example and a Best Expert Judgement (BEJ) methodology. Forty-two marine science, management and impact assessment specialists provided views on a hypothetical marine scenario to derive and interrogate a framework applicable to marine areas with multiple uses and users. The scenario allowed the severity of the activity effects-footprints to be determined on the 11 MSFD Descriptors of GES with that severity being weighted according to the area of each activity effect-footprint. In turn, this allowed the calculation of marine regional environmental status thereby indicating whether the adoption of quality assessment and spatial planning can be mutually beneficial, or are antagonistic in meeting environmental targets. This paper uses the proposed approach to discuss maximising the assimilative capacity of a marine area and minimising the environmental degradation due to new activities. It especially shows the role of BEJ in cases where marine adaptive management is still required despite their being an often paucity of information or data on which to base management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU Blue Growth Agenda targets maritime economic activities that have the sea and the coasts as drivers. These activities are supported by marine Ecosystem Services (ES) in combination, or not, with abiotic outputs from the marine natural capital. This paper analyses Blue Growth activities with regards to the demand and supply of marine ES and Good Environmental Status (GES). The results show that marine provisioning ES support aquaculture and blue biotechnology, while blue energy is supported by marine provisioning ES and by abiotic provisioning, and abiotic provisioning supports extraction of marine mineral resources. Maritime, coastal and cruise tourism is supported by cultural marine ES and cultural settings dependent on marine abiotic structures. All these multi-sectoral economic activities depend on healthy marine and coastal ecosystems that are provided by regulating and maintenance ES combined with the abiotic regulation and maintenance by natural marine physical structures and processes. In order to balance concurrent sectoral interests and achieve sustainable use of marine resources there is the need to consider indicators for demand for ES, which are social and economically driven, and for the supply, which are dependent on ecosystems capacity to provide the required marine ES. Some of the actions foreseeing GES are already anticipated in legislation that underpin Blue Growth, whilst others could benefit from additional regulation, particularly in what concern the exploration and exploitation of marine mineral and biological resources. Blue Growth options require navigating trade-offs between economic, social and environmental aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 2020, European Union Member States should achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) for eleven environmental quality descriptors for their marine waters to fulfill the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). By the end of 2015, in coordination with the Regional Seas Conventions, each EU Member States was required to develop a marine strategy for their waters, together with other countries within the same marine region or sub-region. Coherent monitoring programs, submitted in 2014, form a key component of this strategy, which then aimed to lead to a Program of Measures (submitted in 2015). The European DEVOTES FP7 project has produced and interrogated a catalogue of EU marine monitoring related to MSFD descriptors 1 (biological diversity), 2 (non-indigenous species), 4 (food webs) and 6 (seafloor integrity). Here we detail the monitoring activity at the regional and sub-regional level for these descriptors, as well as for 11 biodiversity components, 22 habitats and the 37 anthropogenic pressures addressed. The metadata collated for existing European monitoring networks were subject to a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. This interrogation has indicated case studies to address the following questions: a) what are the types of monitoring currently in place?; b) who does what and how?; c) is the monitoring fit-for-purpose for addressing the MSFD requirements?, and d) what are the impediments to better monitoring (e.g. costs, shared responsibilities between countries, overlaps, co-ordination)? We recommend the future means, to overcome the identified impediments and develop more robust monitoring strategies and as such the results are especially relevant to implementing coordinated monitoring networks throughout Europe, for marine policy makers, government agencies and regulatory bodies. It is emphasized that while many of the recommendations given here require better, more extensive and perhaps more costly monitoring, this is required to avoid any legal challenges to the assessments or to bodies and industries accused of causing a deterioration in marine quality. More importantly the monitoring is required to demonstrate the efficacy of management measures employed. Furthermore, given the similarity in marine management approaches in other developed systems, we consider that the recommendations are also of relevance to other regimes worldwide.

The large fish indicator (LFI) is a size-based indicator of fish community state. In the North Sea, the LFI is already established as the fish community’s Ecological Quality Objective (OSPAR-EcoQO). The LFI has also been proposed as an indicator for food webs and for monitoring of biodiversity in European regional seas. The LFI was developed based on the entire North Sea fish community, which ignores the differences between the southern and the northern fish communities from the International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS) data. In this study, we have calculated LFIs based on IBTS and the Beam Trawl Survey (BTS), which target different components of the fish community and we test whether the LFI responds to changes in fishing pressure. The results did not confirm our expectation of a negative correlation between the pressure and state. We found a positive relationship between the IBTS-based LFI and the roundfish fishing mortality as well as an inverse relationship between the BTS-based LFI and the flatfish fishing mortality. The differences in the relationships between the IBTS- and BTS-based LFI and the respective roundfish-averaged and flatfish-averaged fishing mortality confirmed the spatial differences between the North Sea roundfish and flatfish fish communities. Although previous relationships between the LFI and the fishing pressure involved lengthy time-lags (10–12 years), we found shorter responsiveness of the LFI of 1–2 years. Further understanding of the ecological, environmental and anthropogenic factors affecting the LFI is required before ecosystem objectives can be set within the MSFD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine legislation, the key means by which the conservation of marine biodiversity is achieved, has been developing since the 1960s. In recent decades, an increasing focus on 'holistic' policy development is evident, compared with earlier 'piecemeal' sectoral approaches. Important marine legislative tools being used in the United Kingdom, and internationally, include the designation of marine protected areas and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) with its aim of meeting 'Good Environmental Status' (GES) for European seas by 2020., There is growing evidence of climate change impacts on marine biodiversity, which may compromise the effectiveness of any legislation intended to promote sustainable marine resource management., A review of key marine biodiversity legislation relevant to the UK shows climate change was not considered in the drafting of much early legislation. Despite the huge increase in knowledge of climate change impacts in recent decades, legislation is still limited in how it takes these impacts into account. There is scope, however, to account for climate change in implementing much of the legislation through (a) existing references to environmental variability; (b) review cycles; and (c) secondary legislation and complementary policy development., For legislation relating to marine protected areas (e.g. the EC Habitats and Birds Directives), climate change has generally not been considered in the site-designation process, or for ongoing management, with the exception of the Marine (Scotland) Act. Given that changing environmental conditions (e.g. rising temperatures and ocean acidification) directly affect the habitats and species that sites are designated for, how this legislation is used to protect marine biodiversity in a changing climate requires further consideration., Accounting for climate change impacts on marine biodiversity in the development and implementation of legislation is vital to enable timely, adaptive management responses. Marine modelling can play an important role in informing management decisions., Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large fish indicator (LFI), or ‘proportion of fish greater than 40 cm length in bottom trawl surveys,’ is a frequently debated indicator of Good Environmental Status in European regional seas. How does the LFI respond to changes in fishing pressure? This question is addressed here through analysis of fine-scale spatial trends in the LFI within the North Sea, compared between two periods of contrasting fisheries management: 1983–1999 and 2000–2012, respectively, before and after the onset of the European Union's fleet reduction scheme. Over the entire period, the LFI has decreased in large parts of the North Sea. However, most of the decline was from 1983–1999; since 2000 the LFI has improved in much of the North Sea, especially in UK waters. Comparison with international effort data shows that those western areas where the LFI has improved correspond with regions where otter trawl effort has decreased since 2000 (and previously was highest in the 1990s), and also with decreases in beam trawl effort. This study provides strong support that recent European effort reduction schemes are now beginning to result in an improved ecosystem state as indicated by the regional-scale improvement in the LFI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper is a comparative analysis of the contribution to UK marine governance of two recent EU initiatives: the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). MSFD imposed a duty on Member States to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in four regional seas, while MSP required Member States to replace their fragmented, sector-based system of maritime decision making with an integrated approach. This paper explains MSFD and MSP, examines their relationship, and compares their practicability, concluding that MSP is both the more dominant and the more practicable instrument, reflecting the UK's preference for sustainable development over conservationism in marine policy. A recent proposal by the European Commission to make MSP and integrated coastal management a Directive reinforces the UK position. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The operation of tidal stream energy farms may interfere with other uses of the marine space, especially in depth-limited areas (estuaries, rivers, etc.) which are typically subject to multiple demands of use. The Marine Spatial Planning Directive (MSP) was passed by the European Commission in 2014 to ensure a harmonic coexistence between different maritime activities and to protect the marine environment. In this context, the objective of this work is to present a methodology based on MSP tools for tidal-farm siting in depth-limited areas. The methodology is illustrated through a case study: Ria de Ribadeo, a shallow-water estuary in NW Spain. Having considered a number of uses (archaeological, biodiversity, fishing, aquaculture, recreational and navigation), two exploitable tidal farm sites (Areas A and C) with annual energy densities of 1 GWhm − 2 were found. The estuary is periodically dredged to maintain navigation. Dredging-related risks were analysed using a novel indicator, the Dredging Associated Risk (DAR), based on which Area C was discarded and Area A had its exploitable surface area reduced by 25%. In sum, the methodology proposed was proven to be effective for tidal stream farm planning. [Display omitted] • MSP streamlines licensing for tidal farms and arbitrates conflicts with other users. • At depth-limited tidal sites, currents are highly sensitive to bathymetric changes. • DAR is proposed to assess dredging-related risks at depth-limited tidal sites. • MSP is a useful tool to find optimum locations for tidal farm operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The ecosystem services concept provides both an analytical and communicative tool to identify and quantify the link between human welfare and the environment, and thus to evaluate the ramifications of management interventions. Marine spatial planning (MSP) and Ecosystem-based Management (EBM) are a form of management intervention that has become increasingly popular and important globally. The ecosystem service concept is rarely applied in marine planning and management to date which we argue is due to the lack of a well-structured, systematic classification and assessment of marine ecosystem services. In this paper we not only develop such a typology but also provide guidance to select appropriate indicators for all relevant ecosystem services. We apply this marine-specific ecosystem service typology to MSP and EBM. We thus provide not only a novel theoretical construct but also show how the ecosystem services concept can be used in marine planning and management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Abundance of ingested debris by seals has been mentioned as a potential indicator of marine litter in the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). A sample of 107 stomachs, 100 intestines and 125 scats of harbour seals from the Netherlands was analysed for the presence of plastics. Incidence of plastic was 11% for stomachs, 1% for intestines, and 0% for scats. Younger animals, up to 3years of age, were most affected. This is the first quantitative study of plastic ingestion by phocid seals. The observed level of incidence is of environmental concern, but is low in the sense of suitability of seals for MSFD monitoring purposes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]